Memories of Wax
by Sedaline
Summary: After D leaves, Leon resolves to find the man and return the object that kept their small and dysfunctional family together. A lot of language, sorry.
1. The Beginning

It was a slow day, and one could only assume that things would only become worse when the sun fell and gave way to the darkness. The reports were far and few between, being nothing more than simple problems. Some punks shop-lifting, a call of domestic disturbance, and other small-time issues were the only problems today so far. The patrols were taking care of the roads, and the street cops were minding the traffic and parking violations. There was… absolutely nothing to do. As sapphire eyes landed upon the crayon drawing that had been placed in a small black frame that stood upon his desk, the mournful expression was all too obvious. The image was of the officer, his younger brother Chris, and Count D. A small sigh passed between his lips, his cheek cradled in the palm of his hand, his free fingers drumming on the laminate of his desk to some tune that played only within his head. In fact, it didn't even have a proper tempo; it was just senseless drumming, induced only from the boredom. The crayon doodle was of what only Chris used to be able to see in that man's mysterious pet shop… the animals, who really had a human-like form. Chris used to be able to see those animals in their true form, but that was when he refused to speak. The instant he began to speak, Chris had lost his innocence that had allowed him to be one with the Count's world. Leon, on the other hand… being an officer of the law, a chain-smoker and borderline alcoholic, always saw nothing but flea-bitten beasts, which did nothing to appease the Count, who ran the shop with the utmost care.

Leon's eyes traveled up slowly to the ceiling, staring at the fluorescent bulbs, one of them flickering and gently buzzing as it's life was draining. There was a small moth up there, beating itself senselessly against the bulb, so seduced that it could not control itself. "Those bulbs must be burning it, every single time." Leon mumbled to himself under his breath, frowning just slightly with his brows furrowing together. If the Count was here… that silly man would have probably hopped right up on the desks, probably doing his best to stand even on the computer monitor to reach that moth to save it. _Silly little prick._ Leon thought to himself, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lips as he adjusted in his seat, sitting upright and then leaning back, his hands dragging through his locks of blonde hair before his fingers locked together on the back of his head, as if they were the only force holding his head up. Leon took one more longing glance at the drawing his little brother had made, which was folded in half in both directions, and slightly burnt around the edges as his mind drifted back to the last day he saw the Chinese man.

That day was simply…. Insane. Everything had happened so quickly, it was like a hurricane, with meeting D's father and having to fight for his life in that bastard's 'Eden', and then before Leon even knew it, the building was burning and…. Leon's eyes traveled back to the moth, thinking of how hot the flames were, and how the bulb must be just as hot to that stupid insect. Leon; bloodied, injured, barely able to stand on his own, and the stupid man, D, had the balls to try and help him, dragging Leon up a strange set of stairs to get out of the flames before the two leapt for the sky. Leon felt a knot in his stomach as the images played over and over in his head, and before he knew it, he was staring that stupid bitch in the face, who had just gone and shoved him over the side of that strange vessel that was the shop. Frowning, Leon raked his fingers through his hair again. The more and more he had thought about it in the hospital… the more and more he had realized that he had actually seen that bastard with a tear down his face.

Standing up suddenly, Leon grabbed his jacket and the picture frame, leaving the office to the astonishment of the other workers, who were wondering just where the man was heading off to in such a rush. It was still slow… nothing was going on!

At the officer's apartment, Leon threw the picture frame on to his beaten couch, which the frame just bounced harmlessly and landed safely upon the cushion. For hours, the man just wandered his apartment, organizing what he could. Looking to his walls, he found a thumbtack with a small corner of a poster still left behind when the Count had gone crazy and started cleaning his apartment. As karma, D broke one of his fruity nails, and Leon smirked as he held the tiny fragment of paper between his thumb and forefinger, looking over both sides before he finally threw it out. Why did it seem that everything in this apartment needed to remind him of that man? For two years, Leon knew that bastard, who had broken so many goddamned laws, but somehow managed to slither his way out of every problem that arose. It seemed that for almost nearly every day, that Count was a part of his life, and now that he was gone, everything reminded Leon of who used to be here, and now who was nothing more than a coward; having fled Los Angeles… hell, probably America also. That slimy bastard… Such a goddamned piece of shit. - always running! Leon glared at his wall before he placed the side of his fist gently against it, staring off at the dull paint for a minute or two before he finally pulled himself away and walked straight to his phone and automatically dialed the number to the pet shop as he plopped himself down upon the couch, his eyes falling upon the picture once again as the dial tone began to buzz.

Once… twice…. Three times. Leon kept waiting, knowing the Count hated technology, and wouldn't have an answering machine. All he had to do was just sit and wait until that bastard either woke up for once, even though it was four in the afternoon, or at least answer. It wasn't as if he had caller ID, anyways. He wouldn't know it was Leon, right? He couldn't be psychic, too. Unless he really was a freak of nature.

Suddenly, the buzzing stopped, and Leon's hearing became so utterly sensitive that he was absolutely positive he heard the gentle clatter of the phone being lifted from the base and he could even hear the sounds of animals in the background, but there was no voice. "D?" Leon barked suddenly, but there was no reply. It simply went silent, and then the phone was hung up on. Rather roughly too, as Leon's ears were ringing from how loud the phone was slammed down.

Pulling his phone from his ear, Leon stared at the device in his hand in utter disbelief. His eyes were wide, his expression pure confusion as his mind tried to piece together what the hell just happened. But once it clicked, rage flashed over his face and his arm pulled back before lashing forward; his little cellular phone being hurled across the room mercilessly before it slammed against the fridge and more or less exploded. Within moments, a string of curses and explicatives were pouring from the man's mouth both directed at the Chinese man, and his phone, even though the phone was innocent in doing anything. Once he was out of breath, his chest heaving with his heart pounding, his face red with anger and his mind slowly coming back to sanity, Leon stared at the pitiful mess of his phone before he simply sat down and held his head between his hands, his body slightly trembling. How could D simply do that to him? Why was he so angry?

Leon just couldn't understand why he felt so injured over it. It just wasn't right. That stupid bastard was gone… That stupid, frilly bastard was good and gone, forever gone from mucking up Leon's already trashed life. Leon was glad that androgynous Asian was gone! A grimace pulled at the corners of his mouth before the black frame caught his eye and he looked over before he scooted over and took the object within his hands, once again taking in the drawing.

Okay… maybe his life was a bit better with that idiot around. It was… a friend that Leon knew he could talk to… Chris loved D, also. "Jackass left this behind." He grumbled, slowly standing to his feet and unconsciously dusting off the knees of his jeans, his eyes still locked on to the slightly burnt crayon drawing. "He made such a goddamned fuss for this thing, and he left it behind." Leon muttered under his breath before a small laugh came from his throat and he went to his room and threw open his closet with a new-found gusto, immediately grabbing the dusty suitcase that was on the high shelf. Throwing it down upon his bed, the case was opened and Leon tore through his closet, stuffing his suitcase near-to-bursting before he removed the drawing from behind the glass pane and tenderly re-folded it as it had once been, and tucked it into his suitcase.

No one would understand, but Leon needed to leave that night. He needed to leave tonight, without letting anyone know, without letting anyone interrupt him and change his mind. He had to leave.


	2. The Futility of it all

It wasn't long at all before Leon was on the soonest flight possible, having spent just a few hours hunting down any leads on the Chinese man. It wasn't too hard to find reports of death by exotic animals, after all. Even though D seemed intent on being hidden, he certainly wasn't doing a very good job if the media was going to start talking about people who were killed in a fashion a little more extravagant than being shot, stabbed, or suicide. After all… in a place like Spain? A man being ripped to shreds in his own home, even though the last known animal he had was a little kitten? For that to have been done by another human was unlikely. His apartment had been emptied, and Leon had taken a personal leave from work. He no longer had possessions at home; all of those had been sold in a garage sale that his aunt had, and what couldn't be sold was given to Good Will. It was the only source of money that Leon had now in his pocket, before he would have to start scraping into his savings account. Leon… was homeless. The lease was over, and if he went home, he would have to be with his aunt. Hell, the only thing left to Leon's name was that he was an American citizen, and that he worked as a police officer, though that may change. He was sure that sooner or later he would be completely without a job also. He had everything placed on finding this bastard, and he hoped to find him. He would hunt him down to the ends of the earth if he had to, and that's all there was to it.

On the plane to Berlin, Leon was gazing over the drawing Chris had made. Why had he never once taken a photograph of D? All of the memories they had, all of the things they did. Hell, he had his cell phone. Why had he not even taken a picture with that? Just as something to always have? Sure, snapping photographs was more of a… girl thing to do, but what if something had happened to one of them? A picture would be an ever-lasting image, instead of a mere memory that would eventually blur and fade. Gently rubbing his face, he ignored the young woman beside him who now had her emerald eyes locked upon his visage, before she too looked at the drawing. A small frown crossed her face for a moment, thinking that Leon, as handsome as he was… had a son. "Are you okay? I have aspirin." She quipped up, and Leon's sapphire eyes turned to her and he was silent, her words slowly rolling about his head before they finally were understood. "Hm? Oh… no, I'm fine. Just.. thinking." He muttered, glancing away. The woman's face remained slightly concerned before she gave a tiny smile. "… Did your son draw that?" She asked, pointing at the drawing. "No. My little brother." And as those words left his mouth, the woman eased up, leaning just slightly closer to Leon. "I see… What are you doing on this plane? Business?" She asked, a slightly more inquisitive expression upon her soft features, her eyes wide with curiosity, but her eyelashes gently batting. Leon stared at her, swallowing a little. He couldn't give up his mission… if he allowed himself to be distracted, he would be out all of this money, he would be out of a home, and his dignity, all for nothing. "Yeah." That was the only word out of Leon's mouth for now. He wasn't going to keep talking to her, for fear that she would completely distract him. He wasn't ready to join the mile-high club. Not yet. The woman, beginning to feel the cold shoulder, sighed before she finally turned to face forward again and pulled a magazine from her purse to resume her own business. Leon, on the other hand, was able to feel much better and closed his eyes to nap for now. Things were much more peaceful now, and he liked it that way. He had to remain focused. His fingers ran gently over the waxy surface of the crayon lines, before he tenderly folded the drawing once again and tucked it into his pocket. The more he looked at it, the more damage it seemed to be collecting. He was trying his best to avoid looking at it, but it was the only physical image of D that Leon had at the moment. He wasn't allowed to keep any of the case files, after all.

As the flight left and Leon left the airport, he pulled out a small notebook he had, which was already getting filled with leads towards D's location. Leon's German was horrible, since he had absolutely no time at all to be practicing all of the languages that D would possibly be immersed within. The man knew Chinese, English, German… and Leon was damn well sure that he probably knew Spanish. He had lived in Los Angeles for quite a while, after all. Leon safely assumed that he most likely knew French, too…. Hell, why not even some more obscure languages? After all, D wasn't human. He probably knew every single damn language on the face of the planet, and even dead ones, if he could even speak with animals. Freak. Leon was going to put him behind bars… he had to now. Now, that D was international and still having his monsters kill people… D was a threat to all of humanity, and needed to be found. The local police would have no idea what this was about… but Leon knew. He had to make D stop and put an end to this silly vendetta. That was final.

After some time of wandering around, Leon paused to observe a photography shop before he spotted a framed image of a rather familiar looking man. Though, he recognized that image. It wasn't D, but his grandfather. None the less…. Leon charged into the shop and snatched the frame right out of the window before thrusting it into the clerk's face. "Have you seen this man!?' He barked suddenly, with such ferocity that the clerk was horrified and stunned, almost on the verge of lunging for the silent alarm, before he took a long look at the photograph. "That image is many years old." He grumbled, raising a brow. Leon just kept his face stern. "I know that. Have you seen a many who looks _similar_?" He hissed, and the clerk looked over all of the faces before he finally rested his gaze upon the count. "I've seen this man around… I do not know where he lives. He passes by in the morning, heading for a sweets shop down the street." He murmured, his English heavy with his German accent and struggled, but Leon thanked the man before he charged out of the shop, leaving the photograph behind. He didn't want to be arrested for theft, just because he was in such a rush to forget to leave store property behind. Leon was soon racing down the street towards the bakery and as he barged in, the quaint old woman behind the counter just gave Leon the foulest of stares, even though her small stature and her pink apron would tell of her personality otherwise. "I'm looking for this Chinese guy!" He growled, and the woman just kept frowning at him before Leon took a good look around the shop and didn't see D. If he had though… he would've throttled the man on the spot. Tugging the image out of his pocket, Leon fumbled and unfolded it before pointing to D in the middle. "Him! Have you seen him?" He hissed, and the woman leaned in close, adjusting her spectacles with flour-coated fingers before she gave a small 'harumph' in her throat. "Chinesiche mann? Ja." Leon stared, his expression fading as he could feel just how difficult this would be. Turning away, Leon left the store to continue looking. Maybe he would find a German version of China Town… D would probably be in the place he was most comfortable… he had to be there, if there was a China Town!

By evening, Leon had stormed around the entire town before he had finally found some teenagers who had directed him to a location that he was trying to tell them about. The two girls even knew of the man in the drawing, and told Leon that they had seen him earlier that morning, but when the man had heard of an American who was asking about him… Well, as Leon stared at the empty shop that still smelled faintly of tea and sweets, that was when they decided to tell him that the count had suddenly freaked out and high-tailed it out of the city without a single word of where he was going. That was the most aggravating part of the whole thing… it was difficult to hunt down a man in hiding, without remaining hidden yourself. He couldn't simply just jump from city to city, country to country, hoping to get lucky to find D. He needed to wait until more leads came up, and that was the most aggravating thing. Who knew how long D would be traveling? How long would it take for him to set up shop? How long… before the next murder? Leon couldn't wait until then.

At the airport, Leon was hounding the security guards and flashing his police badge, demanding to see the surveillance tapes to hunt down D, but since Leon had only clearance in Los Angeles… he was simply laughed right back out of the airport. This would be even more difficult to accomplish… he needed to get closer to D, before the silly bastard once again fled. Hell, if Leon could even be just an hour or two short of D, that would be wonderful. Though, the girls had told him that D had left several hours ago, which must have been shortly after Leon had hounded the photography shop clerk for information. With a curse of frustration, Leon was forced to resign to a hotel for the night, and simply hound the Internet for any information on D as time progressed.

Time slowly passed, and it felt like ages before Leon finally found D again and again. He was visiting country after country, and city after city, being there only for a short period of time before he would discover that D had fled yet again and disappeared from the radar. In the time that Leon was waiting for the chance to find D, he was calling the department offices and the FBI, trying his best to get clearance, working up the best argument possible to attain the ability to just flash a badge and be able to see all security footage, no matter where he went. It wasn't long before D was on the Wanted list in America, and Leon was charged with finding D, and bringing him back to the states. It felt like nearly a year had passed, and the path to D seemed to have gone absolutely cold before Leon stumbled upon the tiniest fragment of information; someone saying that they had seen someone like him… but the glance was just brief for only a moment, and it had been raining and hard to see at all. But it was enough for Leon to hop on the plan to Tokyo, desperately hoping to find the bastard and bring this game of cat and mouse to a close. Leon was tired of living in hotels, he was tired of living off of continental breakfasts, he was nearly bankrupt now; having plunged into his savings and checking account to the point that he didn't even have a single cent to his name. Sure, he could write off the travel expenses as business expenditures, but cigarettes? And a lot of food places weren't exactly listed as 'business'. It seemed as though the government only thought a man was capable of eating only once a day for business, and anything else came out of the man's own pocket. It just didn't work that way, and Leon was quickly losing weight with how little he was being forced to eat in order to save money.

As Leon landed in Tokyo and he was following the directions, he knew it would be difficult to find someone who spoke English. All he had was the internet, which led him to Neo-Tokyo and to a department building, which one of the shops was rumored to have exotic animals. That was Leon's last bet, and if D wasn't there…. Leon would be on the verge of just breaking down. He was tired of traveling, he was tired of living outside of a country that understood him, he was tired of hunting…. He was just tired. It was dark under his eyes, and his movements were harder to carry out. He hadn't eaten today, and he was just wanted to see a familiar face. Hell, he even wouldn't arrest D right away if he found him.

As Leon came to the door of the pet shop, he swallowed hard. This was so terribly familiar… it had to be the right place. The oriental doors, so… plain. Sure, that was weird to think, but in this town? Doors had signs on them, brightly lit, or intricately carved. These were just… boring. Instead of barging in for once, since he had done that so many times, Leon just reached up and rested the palm of his hand against the door. It felt… so familiar. His stomach was growling, and Leon's eyes felt heavy, his head spinning. Reaching up, he cradled his forehead in his free hand, his eyes closing as it felt as though his knees were trembling. He was just so tired… and he wasn't feeling well at all. After all, this was Japan. The meal he had was certainly nothing he was used to, and it wasn't doing his body any good. As Leon pulled his hand from the door to knock, his stomach felt like it was doing flips before he suddenly hunched over and he was forced to vomit into the dirt of a plant right beside the door. Coughing hard, Leon collapsed to his knees as sweat before to bead upon his forehead. His body was trembling, his breath faint and shallow before he just slumped against the wall, his eyes closing. Traveling wasn't doing his body any good; he was so tired from being on the planes and sleeping in hotels, and his body was being ripped apart from the jet lag and strange food that his body had no resistance to. It was simply tearing him apart, and his body was on the verge of giving up, even if his mind wasn't.

As consciousness slowly began to return, Leon could hear a dull beeping in the background, and there was a really odd smell that was a mixture of bleach, and medicines. Some horrendously sterile environment… Leon knew immediately what it was. He had been in a hospital too many times before to question for even a moment of where he was. Opening his eyes, Leon's blurred vision caught sight of two figures dressed in white, standing beside his bed. One was clearly a male doctor, since it had a mustache. The other though… His groggy mind wasn't about to hold back what he wanted to say. They couldn't understand him anyways, he was sure. "God damn, you have a really hot nurse." He muttered to the doctor, his eyes locking on the other figure. Though, much to Leon's shock, the nurse suddenly tightened up before punching him in the face, instantly knocking Leon unconscious again; the blow a bit too strong for Leon's exhausted mind at the moment. "PIG!" Barked the nurse, as the beeping in the background faded into his unconsciousness again.


	3. Smells like Buttercream

((Sorry for taking so long to update! ;A; I'm sososososo SORRYYYYYYY. And I also deleted the previous chapter, because I re-read the story and realized it was just pretty stupid. Dx ))

As light slowly came back to him, he realized it was the all-too-sterile lighting of the hospital. It wasn't coming in through the window, but he could definitely make out the distant neon lights of the city. In one way, it seemed just like Los Angeles. But in another way… it was so foreign. It wasn't Los Angeles. It was supposed to be Tokyo. Was he there? Or was he still somehow in the hospital from the fire? His body was so sore… he certainly felt as though he had fallen all those flights again. Had he somehow been in a coma? Fingers twitched and he winced, groaning gently. He felt to be in such agonizing pain, and yet at the same time, it made him know that he was somehow alive. Whatever transpired before this moment… it hadn't killed him. Not yet. He still had a way to achieve something before he could finally tell the reaper that he was done.

Sitting up just slightly, his hand inched just a little away before it bumped into something hard and he realized it was the remote. Tenderly lifting it, his eyes flickered over it and thankfully it had only pictures. If he really was still in Japan, he wouldn't be able to understand a damn thing. Well… he could at least understand the neon-red button with the image of a nurse in any language. The other buttons, which were a calming shade of emerald, he wouldn't figure those out too easily without some toying. With a press of the button that looked like a television with those extinct 'rabbit ears' antennae, he smirked as the TV came to life and he could see that whoever it was on the television was asian. Well, that was a good sign. Looking back to the remote, it felt like ages before he figured out what the volume was - even though it was a universal image of a rounded triangle with curved lines - one with three, and the other with only one. Pressing the louder button a few times, he then pressed the remote's imbedded speaker to his ear to listen to the sound. It was definitely asian. He had absolutely no idea what the fuck was being said. He thought he heard 'Applejacks', but considering it was a news cast, he was fairly sure they weren't talking about cereal.

Unaware that by pressing his ear to the remote, he accidentally pressed the 'call nurse' button, Leon was shocked as suddenly two nurses and a doctor came barging into the room with wide-eyes and needles in their hands. "Wh-what the fuck!" He yelped, but as the trio realized there was no emergency, they frowned considerably. The doctor growled something at Leon in Asian-talk before he walked off, and one of the nurses followed before the other one just scowled at Leon. She looked rather familiar, and rather pissed off. Was she the one that had punched him? "Did you… punch me?" He asked finally, gently setting the remote back to the bed as he stared the woman down who then began to look over his charts, making sure he was okay before she checked a number of other things. "Orkotto-san… No, I did not." She murmured gently, her English struggled and definitely the voice didn't match. Leon then gave a small nod. He figured as much, anyways. If a nurse punched him, wouldn't she lose her job for attacking a patient, or something? But then again, in those weird Asian cartoons that Chris used to watch… it seemed like all those characters were pretty violent as a whole. "Then who the hell punched me?" He snapped, and the nurse looked back to Leon, gently biting her lip before she smiled. "A visitor." With that, Leon gave a sigh. "Male? Female? Dog?" She frowned at the last choice, obviously unsure of what in the world he meant.

"They are not here now." She added, and with that, hurried out of the room. Leon sighed heavily before he rubbed his face.

He was in Tokyo. The staff alone proved that… And there was some visitor who thought he was a pig and had the balls to punch him. There could be only one. With that, he gave a cheeky grin. He was so close… D was right in his grasp. He could practically taste those sweets and tea… and smell the incense… Incense? He sniffed the air. He could definitely smell it. Where the fuck was it coming from? With that, Leon suddenly sprang from the bed and gave a howl as the IV was tugged on. Holding back tears of agony, he reluctantly grabbed the machine he was leashed to and began dragging it with himself as he searched around the room, sniffing like a dog to find the source. Sadly, it was faint now, and in the end, he could only find a stupid plant sitting on the windowsill. He frowned considerably as he touched a tag hanging from the stem, noting that it only said 'Get Well'. At least it was in English, and it seemed to be the source of the smell. Limping back to the bed with the plant in hand, he set it gently on the table beside the bed and sat down again as the nurse returned with some paperwork that had been painstakingly translated for him - covered in post-it notes and scribbles. He filled out the paperwork as much as he could before he handed it back, and he was informed that he was free to leave as she carefully removed the IV from his arm and pointed out where his clothing was.

Within minutes Leon was out the door before he realized that his suitcase was gone. Maybe that silly sonuvabitch took it from him. If not… he would go on a massacre. Frowning, he took a taxi that was stationed outside and showed the man the address of the building he had nearly completed his mission in, and it wasn't long before he was storming through the doors and waiting in the elevator - filling it with a heavy and angry aura of determination. "I'll get you, you cowardly piece of shit." He growled ferociously under his breath, leaving a poor Japanese girl dressed in some weird doll-like fashion giving him a quite terrified glance as she even took a step closer to the wall, and further from him.

As soon as Leon got off the elevator, he hurried to the corner of the building where he knew D's shop to be, since he had only been there not too long ago. As he reached the doors once again, he unceremoniously shoved them open. In an instant, the animals were facing Leon and baring their fangs in defense, which almost immediately quelled his rage. As some of the animals recognized the human though, he noticed that some of them went scattering off. "H-Hey!" He growled at them, but they didn't answer, and several animals moved in front of Leon to make sure he didn't step inside any further. He refused to back down, and he could only sneer. The animals. God, how he hated them, and yet… right now they were a miracle to behold. He was so happy to see these hairy shits, that even seeing T-chan again would be entirely welcome. "Where the fuck is that sonuvabitch!" He snapped at the creatures, and they seemed to calm down a bit - almost all seeming to have peeved stares. …If animals could even have those, that is. He didn't care, though.

The one thing that confused Leon though, was the fact that he couldn't see their human forms again. He had seen them on the ship, why not now? And the shop was so quiet, that Leon had honestly been hoping that D would come hurrying out of whatever hole he was hiding in to try and shoo the officer away yet again. But, it seemed like the man wasn't even here at all, so the American found a spot on the sofa and took out a pack of cigarettes before he stared at them long and hard before he finally found enough motivation to put another one to his lips and light it. He was here, that was all that mattered. After traveling the world, just to find this one man… Leon could wait forever if he had to. D had to return to the shop sooner or later.

It felt like hours though as time slowly passed. Four cigarettes were crushed into the dirt of the plant from the hospital that was now scarified to be his ashtray, and Leon was starting to feel rather bored with all of the animals merely lingering around him and having gotten quite used to his presence. It was a good thing he wasn't allergic, either. The door finally opened again, but before a word could even be spoken - Leon's attention was grabbed as he heard the strange sound of something soft within cardboard hitting the ground, and most likely being destroyed. It was a hard sound to make out, but definitely strange enough that he looked up to see D standing in the doorway, completely frozen and seemingly unaware of the cake and the box having been smashed on the ground. "Long time no see." Leon said softly, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.


	4. Mind Games

In response to Leon's comment, D's eyes merely narrowed a bit as he recovered. With dual-colored eyes then falling to look at the cake, he bent down to begin picking up the ruined cardboard box as the animals began trying to help clean up the remaining cake. "Why are you out of the hospital?" D asked gently, not looking at Leon yet, and almost pretending as if no time had passed between them at all. "You were a terrible mess yesterday." He added, glancing up as Leon rose to his feet to walk over and kneel down as well, but T-chan was there in an instant, growling and baring his fangs at Leon to force the American to rise once again and frown just a little. Well… he supposed this was better than being bitten in the ass. "They let me out, plain and simple. But D.. " He started, and suddenly the slender Asian man rose to his feet. "Why did you follow me?" He asked, his voice so suddenly cold, and his face as stoic as ever, that it sent shivers down Leon's spine.

"You know damn well why I had to follow you, D." Leon argued back, lifting his hands a little in a passive defense against such cold words. He didn't want to fight with D - even though for some reason, Leon was getting this tugging in the back of his mind that D was angry at him. "Why were you running from me?" He followed with, and D merely walked off to go throw away the cardboard box, and the animals followed to help toss away the ruined cake - many already having their muzzles covered with the buttercream frosting.

"D?" Leon asked, and the man merely continued with his business of putting a kettle full of water upon a small stove to let it boil for tea. Still silence. D just busied himself with business in the kitchen until Leon frowned. "D, answer me!" He snapped, and the Chinese man turned on his heels suddenly with a ferocity in his eyes that felt as though it stopped Leon's heart for just a second. "What do you want me to say, Officer? You should understand why I left Los Angeles." He said simply, his voice having been to tense at first, but as he continued speaking, one could hear him quickly relaxing as his tone became calmer before he finally gave that cold smile, just like always. "My life and livelihood was threatened in Los Angeles. There was no reason for me to stay." He nodded, and Leon only frowned. "But I chased you around the fuckin' world, D. Every place I went to, you suddenly up and disappeared shortly after. You were running from me." He said softly, and D only continued smiling, as if not letting the words pass through some barrier he had. "Merely coincidences, Officer."

With that, Leon slammed his hand down roughly onto the counter, scowling. "Coincidence MY ASS." He growled, sapphire eyes glaring daggers at the man who was still smiling - just like he had when the plane crashed. Like as if nothing in the human world was real to him; that he was merely watching a movie. "Don't give me that shit that EVERY single place I went to, you magically decided to up-and-leave within… shit, a DAY of me finding out how to get to you! You stayed in L.A. for two years before you finally left!" He hissed, fuming internally. He was furious that D had given him such a wild goose chase. He was angry that for months he had been chasing after D and he came up with nothing, and now that he was finally here, D pretends like nothing happened!

"D, why the fuck did you run from me." He repeated, scowling. It wasn't as though D was an accomplice to his father's decision to blowing up the building. D hadn't done anything illegal…. well, as far as Leon knew. He supposed running from an officer and possibly threatening him once or twice was illegal, but nothing that required international fleeing. D remained quiet, the smile still in place before he then clasped his hands together in front of himself. "Officer.. you're exhausted. You're acting foolish." He said gently, and Leon scowled. "For a while, you know… you didn't call me only 'Officer'." He added, watching the other. D at least called him other things, like 'Detective', and once in a rare while, used his last name. "What's going on, D?" Leon said softly, and D just shook his head. "Nothing is wrong, Officer. You're merely over-reacting." And with that, D walked out of the small kitchen with the kettle in hand to pour himself and Leon a cup of tea each. Leon turned and sighed, following after the other with his hands sliding into his pockets. Maybe he was over-reacting. He had been on planes, trains, buses and taxis so much, he couldn't even remember what it was like to relax. Flopping back down onto the couch, Leon frowned as he lit up another cigarette and scowled as he stared at the other who was happily sipping on his oolong tea.

"D, where did my suitcase go?" He finally asked, his mind traveling back to the idea. "Suitcase? I don't recall seeing one." He said gently, and Leon frowned. "What do you mean? I had a goddamn suitcase." He growled, and D shrugged. "You didn't have one when I saw you. Plain and simple." With that, Leon rubbed his face with a sigh. "You've got to be fucking kidding me." D was silent. "That had EVERYTHING in it!" He snarled, punching the couch cushion fruitlessly. He groaned, burying his face in his hands. D merely rose a brow and with a gentle clink of the china, the tea cup was set back upon the saucer. "If you need clothing, I suppose I can supply you wi-" "I'm not wearing a dress." Leon grumbled from behind his hands, silencing D for a few moments. "I can buy some clothes for you." He offered with a tilt of his head, and Leon looked up with a dry stare. He really didn't want Asian clothes. They just… weren't the same. And not to mention.. the drawing was now gone. What the fuck, seriously. He came all this way for that stupid doodle, and it was now gone. The fucking drawing was gone.

Well, just maybe… maybe a security guard took it, or something. Or maybe another shop owner. Or… or… something. He would find out where it went. He had to, somehow. "Fine. Buy me some clothes, D. I know you're loaded, and you owe me." He grumbled, and D rose a brow a little. "I owe you? For what, Officer?" With that, Leon was already standing with his hands in his pockets, and somewhat already turning for the door. "For putting up with you." He chuckled, and D scowled as he began to follow after. "What in the world do you mean by that!" He snapped, and Leon was just grinning to himself as he walked out of the shop with the other in tow, fuming just a little. "Officer, I demand you answer me!" He huffed, hands clenched into weak fists. Though since D gave him the runaround, Leon wasn't going to answer for now.


	5. Leon 0, D 1

((Waaahhh! I'm such a bad author! ;O; I haven't updated in aaagesss… School's been such a hassle, but since the next semester is my LAST, I'm hoping that things will go over better, and I'll post way more frequently! –Crosses fingers-))

It wasn't long before D realized that Leon was giving him the silent treatment and he gave yet another small huff, but now he began to relax. It had been so long since he last had to deal with the officer, that he had almost forgotten how difficult it was to deal with this man. …Almost. It was almost impossible to completely forget how annoying this arrogant, irritating, oafish this man really was. Sometimes D felt like he would be better off training a caveman than dealing with Leon. D eyed the back of the blonde's head, sighing just a little once again. How in the world did this happen? He had wanted to get away from this man, who did nothing but bring trouble after trouble into D's life. D had to admit that before he met this man, things were so much easier. But now that Leon was here…. A 'friend', in a sense, now D had this rather odd predicament of some sort of connection to the human world. Before, there was nothing. All D needed to do was to sell the humans the animals, and just keep on moving across the world before too much attention was on him. It was that simple. But now he had a.. 'connection', if you will, and this idiot was obsessed with chasing D down to the ends of the Earth. And for what? Because of some self-righteous idiocy? Dedication to justice, which had shown time and time again, that it would be the death of the other? D just couldn't wrap his mind around it, so distracted that he barely even realized that Leon had stopped completely until he nearly walked into the man's back.

Frowning a little as he brushed a strand of ebony hair out of his face, he eyed the other as he was distracted with some clothes in the window before he walked into the store. "What were you talking about, that suitcase of yours? I don't see why it would be so important if you expect me to replace your clothing, anyways." D grumbled, arms crossing as he tagged after Leon as the man began to peruse through the store. "It had something really important to me in it." Leon stated cryptically, and merely kept looking through the shirts. D sighed, walking to the cashier and ordering them to put whatever Leon bought on his tab before he walked out of the store, disappearing quickly.

Leon looked up and sighed when he realized he was all alone, but he figured he would still at least look.

While D was out and about, he began questioning the nearby shop owners for any information about this mysterious suitcase. After a few leads though, D found himself at the most obvious of locations – the Lost and Found. In fact, the simplicity of the whole thing made D rather irritated. Leon was up there, whining about his lost suitcase, when even that oaf surely had enough brains to think of this location? While D was grumbling under his breath about the American, the security guard pulled gently at his hat as he watched D tear item after item out of the bin, hurling them over his shoulder with little care. "There's a different bin for larger items, like that." He finally offered before D's annoyed scowl snapped in the man's direction, who pointed at a closet nearby. "We usually put things like bags and purses there." After all, D had been too irritated to realize he had been digging through a pile of jackets, shirts, gloves hats and scarves. Walking away from the pile, D hurried to the closet and tugged open the door to look inside. It was shelf after shelf of un-organized merchandise bags that had yet to be returned, or retrieved. There were even backpacks and large tote bags, but finally, D spotted a rather ugly, beat up suitcase that looked like it had been through Hell and back, and was in dire need of a little funeral. "That better be it.." He whispered under his breath in exasperation before he grabbed the case and threw it upon the floor – with little care. After all, if Leon was up there buying new clothes, it wasn't like there was going to be anything of too much importance, right? Kneeling down, he barely noticed that the guard was peering curiously over D's shoulder to see what was inside to put D in such a temperamental mood.

Though, as D attempted to open it, he realized it had those silly number locks. Silently, D stared at the case in both shock and stunned anger before he picked up the case again with a snarl of anger- throwing it against the nearest wall with a frustrated pout soon following. He didn't want to have to ask Leon what was inside! Though, suddenly an idea clicked in his head as he stared at the case, causing a little smirk to pull across his lips. Hurrying to rescue the poor, abused case once more, D cradled the case in his lap as he fiddled with the numbers. Leon wasn't exactly a genius, when it came to things like this. So, D fiddled with the numbers, setting it to read across as '1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8'. And with that, D gave the snaps a tug, and still nothing happened. The case refused to give way to it's abuser.

With a frustrated sigh, D stood up and thanked the guard. "I'll just have to pry the answer from him, but thank you. I'm sure this one is it." He murmured, then hurried off to leave the guard to clean up the mess from the first pile.

As D returned upstairs, he found Leon within the petshop, and several bags of clothing, and some of the stores were especially high-end. The idea of just how much Leon had spent without even knowing it made a knot form in D's stomach, and he didn't even want to know what the tab would be when the stores asked for them. "I hope you found enough clothing to last you a while." D said gently, and Leon nodded before he looked to D's hand. "You found it!" He gasped, and D nearly had to use the suitcase to protect himself from the man that came charging over. "Where the hell did you find it!" He murmured, quickly snatching the case from D with a grin. "… The Lost and Found." D grumbled, then walked past the man who now had a sheepish grin. "Well… thanks, D." Leon said softly, ignoring D's stare as the Chinese man was expectantly waiting for Leon to open it up, but the man only set it beside all of the bags. "Aren't you going to open it?" He asked, and Leon shook his head. "I don't want you to know what's in it just yet." He offered, grinning just enough to cause D's brows to furrow. "And why is that?" D grumbled, and Leon, picking up on the irritation, just smirked. "Because it's special. It needs to be brought out at a special time. It's kind of like one of those Deus Ex Machina things." "I'm surprised you even know what that word is." D muttered, ignoring the fact that even though Leon knew of the word, he still used it incorrectly. "I've got some smarts, you know." Leon grumbled, and D only offered silence. He didn't quite believe that half the time.

"Can't you at least give me a hint?" "No." Leon grinned even more, and D frowned. D opened his mouth to protest further, such as the fact that he was the one with the brains enough to find the case, but before he could do that, the door opened and a man walked into the shop. D just cast a small scowl at Leon before he rose to his feet and gently bowed to the man. "How may I help you today, Sir?" He asked, and the man was silent before he looked to D. "Just looking." He muttered, and D frowned. "Is there anything in particular that you're 'looking' for?" He offered, and the man shrugged. With a sigh of defeat, D returned to the couch to sip his tea as he eyed Leon. He didn't exactly like this man. What customer just walked into a pet store to browse? That was particularly annoying.

As the man walked deeper into the shop, three other men walked into the shop, standing by the door as guards. Instantly Leon was on his feet as soon as he saw the men clasp their hands in front of theirselves – much like any mob guard would do, but the first man suddenly struck out – slamming the butt of a pistol into the side of Leon's head and knocking him out cold.


End file.
